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Keynote Speakers
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Dr. Mary
Bigler is a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Eastern
Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI. Her teaching experiences include
13 years at the K-12 level and 32 years as a university professor. She
holds the prestigious Distinguished Teaching award from Eastern Michigan
University and the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Eastern Michigan
University Alumni Association. Mary is internationally known as a
motivational speaker and consultant.
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| Scott Miller –
In his career, Scott Miller has had the privilege of teaching students
in all grade levels, Kindergarten through 12. He has also served as a
Literacy Coach, Instructional Specialist, and as a Coordinator of
Writing Instruction. Scott currently lives in Dallas, Texas and works
as a National Professional Development Specialist and Reading &
Language Arts Consultant. In this role, he speaks and keynotes at
various national and regional conferences, and helps educators in
thirty-eight states master skills and strategies for exceptional
literacy instruction. |
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William C. Pack was born
in a Montana coal and cattle town and grew up in an
environment beset by all the attendant difficulties. At 15 years old he
left home, becoming his own sole provider. At 16 he dropped out of high
school. At 17 he married and at 18 he became a father. He worked
variously as a truck driver, a bartender, a fry cook, a loading dock
worker, and a broadcast ad-man. He earned a GED, and no more. At
21, Bill was hired as a broker with a major Wall Street firm. In time,
he became the youngest Executive VP/Divisional Director in the
brokerage arm of the largest financial firm on earth. Simultaneously,
for several years, he was CEO of a private food
manufacturing/distribution company affiliated with Beatrice Foods. He
served a prestigious 3-year appointment with the NASD (now FINRA), the
S.E.C.’s partner in creating and enforcing rules and regulations on
Wall Street. Along the way, through Menttium 100, Bill served as a
volunteer mentor for female executives at both Hewlett Packard and
JPMorgan. He has pitched in at or helped fund many charities,
particularly women’s and children’s advocacy groups. At 43 he became
seriously ill and left Wall Street to pursue lifelong goals, the
greatest of which was to be a novelist. Bill
took the SATs and earned a slot at Stanford University as the oldest
undergraduate on campus (43-46), and perhaps the only one with a GED.
After three years, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with distinction and
honors. He was the only undergraduate chosen to head up an
archaeological project. His thesis received the Annual Reviews Prize
in Anthropological Sciences. In 2007 Bill published his first short story, Saints and Patrons. The Bottom of the Sky is his first novel. He is writing the second.
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Author Luncheons
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Thursday, October 15, 2009
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| Chris Crutcher
is an award winning novelist and therapy consultant based in Spokane,
WA. Each of his ten novels, two short story collections and his
autobiography have been critically acclaimed for powerful
characterizations, compelling plotlines and a skillful balance of
humor, tragedy and triumph. A few of Chris’s books are Running
Loose, The Crazy Horse Electric Game, The Deep End, Ironman, The
Sledding Hill and Deadline. |
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Friday, October 16, 2009
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| Patricia Reilly Giff has
written more than 60 books for young readers. She has received two
Newbery Honor Awards for her middle-grade fiction. Patricia spent 20
years as a reading teacher before changing careers to become a
children’s author. All of her books are based in some way on her
own personal experiences or the experiences of members of her family,
or the stories kids would tell her in school. Some of Patricia’s
books are Kids of the Polk Street School, Nory Ryan’s Song,
Lily’s Crossing, Pictures of Hollis Woods and A House of Tailors. |
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